There are new developments in the results of the special election for the 23rd District of New York. Democrat Bill Owens edged out Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman by a nominal margin on November 3. On the night of the special election, Hoffman conceded the election to Owens, but Hoffman is now revoking his statement of concession, as the state Board of Election results now indicates Hoffman received more votes than he was originally credited.

Citing problems with the vote tallies, and even pointing a finger at ACORN and the unions for possible involvement in the discrepant vote reporting, or at least their tactics, Hoffman has just sent out an email appeal renouncing his concession in the special election of the 23rd District of New York and asking for donations to “ ensure the people of NY-23 get the Congressman THEY ELECTED.”

This strange chain of events started when the Syracuse Post-Standard first reported on November 12 that the margin of victory Owens had over Hoffman, 5,335 votes, had narrowed somewhat after recanvassing, to 3,026 votes:

Now a recanvassing in the 11-county district shows that Owens’ lead has narrowed to 3,026 votes over Hoffman, 66,698 to 63,672, according to the latest unofficial results from the state Board of Elections.

In Oswego County, where Hoffman was reported to lead by only 500 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted election night, inspectors found Hoffman actually won by 1,748 votes — 12,748 to 11,000.

The new vote totals mean the race will be decided by absentee ballots, of which about 10,200 were distributed, said John Conklin, communications director for the state Board of Elections.

It was the relative closeness of the election results that prompted the New York State Board of Elections to send a letter to the Clerk of the House of Representatives that was entered into the House record on November 6 noting the 3,026-vote separation as an unofficial result. Senior member of the New York Congressional Delegation Rep. Charles Rangel nonetheless put forth Bill Owens for swearing in to the 111th Congress. Rangel indicated that Owens’ “Certificate of Election has not arrived, but there is no contest, and no question has been raised with regard to his election.”

Appearing on the Glenn Beck Show on Monday, November 16, Hoffman was asked if he would “unconcede,” and he replied, "If that’s possible, yes,” which he has now done. Hoffman didn't contest the election night's outcome and conceded because his decision was based on what are now known to be inaccurate vote tallies. This enabled Speaker Pelosi to quickly swear in the Democratic challenger, Bill Owens, on Friday, November 6, just in the nick of time to vote for the health care reform bill the following day, November 7. 

However, Rangel’s statement that nothing was contested is not exactly true. Owens’ campaign was contesting the election results the day before the election, ordering the vote to be impounded in advance of the election.  The Gouverneur Times, an upstate New York periodical reports what followed:

The Clerk of the House of Representatives requested results of the election from the NYS Board of Elections.  The NY Board of Elections could not release those results while the vote was impounded but after Mr. Hoffman's concession of the election, based on erroneous information Hoffman had received with regard to the vote count, the Owens' Campaign released their impound order. This put the Board of Elections in a position where they could report the vote count to the Clerk of the House, although they emphasized that the results were unofficial and that they could not certify the result.

Right now officials are still counting about 10,000 absentee ballots, many of which contain the name of the Republican who dropped out just days in advance of the special election, Dede Scozzafava. Hoffman is said to be trailing Owens by 3,000 votes, so he would have to garner about 69.6 percent of those absentee ballots to pull out a win. The Watertown Daily Times, another New York newspaper, reports the gap between the two challengers has now "shrunk to 2,159" votes.

The Watertown Daily Times also noted some serious problems with vote counting in Jefferson County:

Sean M. Hennessey, Jefferson County Democratic elections commissioner, said poll inspectors in four districts reported Mr. Hoffman had received zero votes after inadvertently reading the wrong line of the poll system's printout. The commissioner said results in some other districts were either incorrectly relayed by the poll worker or incorrectly typed by the part-time staff answering phones at the county department.

"The machines were not at fault," said Jerry O. Eaton, county Republican elections commissioner. "It's all human error that happens every election."

John Conklin, the communications director for the Board of Elections in New York says that all of the ballots in the congressional race will be counted and a winner declared some time in December.

If there were to be a miraculous victory for Doug Hoffman, Owens would be removed and Hoffman sworn in to represent the people of the 23rd Congressional District of New York.

The NY-23 race captured the nation’s attention, first for the anointing of Dede Scozzafava by Republican Party leaders as a "conservative" and then for her unexpected withdrawal from the race. But that was only the beginning of an intriguing saga that also saw the emergence of a Conservative Party candidate and ultimately a controversial election.

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rprew

November 19, 2009

72.201.107.33

Votes: +2

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...

Problems with the counting the vote? Rather than use machines, why not use PAPER? Not the kind you punch, but the kind you MARK. The kind that can provide an AUDIT TRAIL.

If too many conservatives start winning, there will be OUTRAGE from the left, perhaps even a DEMAND for impartial (U.N.) observers.

Still Free

November 19, 2009

64.12.117.9

Votes: +2

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More fraud and deceit!

Everywhere you look, there is nothing but fraud, fraud, and more fraud.

If you too have had enough, please join us in the fight to save America!

Freedom has an address!
jbs.org

Bradford C. Riendeau

November 19, 2009

69.43.218.51

Votes: +1

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Audit trail & Paper ballots

The ballots cast were paper ballots. The machines used scanned and stored those paper ballots. There is an audit trail. The allegations being made, if not supported by fact are probably libelous, particularly those challenging the honesty and integrity of the elections commissioners.

Pat Henry

November 19, 2009

189.130.10.116

Votes: +3

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Recount!

Recount!

And paper ballots should be a top line issue in every state and district. See BlackBoxVoting, among other sites on tampering.

danolator

November 20, 2009

12.150.107.6

Votes: +0

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Whoa!!

My chads are hanging!!

BenG

November 20, 2009

71.127.105.21

Votes: +3

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Victory from the jaws of defeat

I am so excited that Hoffman has a chance to win. I would love to see a "regular joe" get into congress for the first time in a long time. It would give me hope for our country.

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